Remarks for the Homegoing Service of Reverend Fred Shuttleworth

First let me say what a privilege it is to be joining in with this gathering, and with friends and family to honor the life and service of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth.

To the Shuttlesworth family, I offer you my deepest sympathy and heartfelt prayers.

And to all gathered here today, I bring condolences on behalf of the Great State of Alabama.

The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth is a man most remembered for action.  When someone said ‘actions speak louder than words’ I believe they must have surely been referring to Reverend Shuttlesworth. He was a man who was not afraid of confrontation. He was not afraid to put his life on the line for a cause that he and so many others believed in, and helped the rest of us believe in too: The right to equality, fairness and freedom.

As a young man growing up in Shelby County, I remember a time not unfamiliar to those assembled here. Growing up in the 1950’s, I lived in a segregated community, where people of different races did not share schools, stores or even restrooms. I remember in Columbiana being frightened at the sight of members of the Ku Klux Klan walking the streets. Although the cowards covered their faces, I knew their purpose was to intimidate blacks and whites alike. I recall lunch counter sit-ins and marches through Birmingham. Little did I know as I witnessed and learned of those events, that one day I would stand here in a spirit of gratitude, as your Governor, honoring a man who boldly led the charge for change in not only in Birmingham, Alabama but across our nation.

As a young man I worked for my father in a saw mill. I labored alongside the other pulp wood workers who were black. And although we shared in the same labor, I remember when they came to my home the workers never came to the front door, instead they always used the backdoor.  While we worked together there was no separation, yet when the work ended, we slipped back into the old habits and customs of a culture which sought to keep us separated.

Like many in Alabama during that time in history, I never gave much thought to the segregated society we had become. I never gave it much concern until the actions of brave men, such as Fred Shuttlesworth forced me and others in this state to think about it.  I believe that’s what I most admire about the life and works of Reverend Shuttlesworth. He had the courage to take action, to stand strong in the face of threats and violence, and he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind for the cause of freedom and equality.

In June of 1963, I was a student enrolled in the University of Alabama. I was there studying to practice medicine. One day I walked across campus where a large crowd had gathered. It seemed hundreds of fellow students had gathered outside the Administrative offices. And the Governor of Alabama was also there. I remember standing on the sidewalk, when a police officer told me to get out of the street or I would be arrested. I recall the fear I felt at the age of 20 when threatened with arrest. I can only imagine the fear Fred Shuttlesworth, and others alongside him -many here in this room- must have endured, and then overcome to keep fighting, pushing and challenging the need for racial equality in our state.   

Fred Shuttlesworth was a fighter, a blunt-talking preacher who braved a bombing on his home, and countless beatings to make our state better than it was. In many ways he was also a teacher.  I believe racism is a learned behavior. Children aren’t born hating children of different races. They learn it from their parents, or a misdirected society. Fred Shuttlesworth and the men and women who stood alongside him showed us the need to teach our children to accept one another.  He taught his own children that very thing when he attempted to enroll his daughters in school, only to endure more brutality. While driving himself to the hospital he pleaded for his children to learn to forgive.

Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth was indeed a great teacher. And we as a state and a nation are forever changed for having learned the lessons he taught us.

God bless you all and God bless the Great State of Alabama.

Thank you.